As soon as Jie finished speaking, a massive Wood Human rose from the ground and tore straight through the fake tree Konan had created.
Jie stood on its shoulder, looking down at Obito.
"This is what Wood Release looks like."
The wooden spikes from Obito's earlier attack were still lodged in the Wood Human's leg. Jie glanced at them and said calmly, "And yours? It looks more like leg hair on mine."
Jie's mockery was deliberate, but it was not empty. Obito's Cutting Technique had struck the Wood Human's leg, yet against that massive body, the spikes looked no different from a few stray hairs. They had done almost no damage at all.
Obito's eye widened.
"How is this possible? Jie Uchiha can use Wood Release too?"
"Did he transplant Hashirama's cells?"
Then he remembered that Konoha still had Orochimaru, the former Akatsuki rogue ninja. And when it came to research, few people in the ninja world could compare to him.
"Has Orochimaru already solved the side effects of Hashirama's cells?"
For a moment, Obito regretted not hunting that rogue ninja down when he had the chance.
Jie had no interest in guessing what Obito was thinking. With a single thought, the Wood Human raised its fist and smashed down at him.
He had just been punched several times by the Gedo Statue under Obito's control. Now it was Obito's turn to take some of that anger.
Although the Wood Human was smaller and weaker than the Gedo Statue, it was still powerful enough to wrestle a Tailed Beast. Crushing Obito was more than enough.
If Obito had not remained intangible, that first punch would have flattened him on the spot. But Jie did not care that it missed. If one punch failed, he would simply throw another.
He had plenty of chakra anyway. At this point, his chakra could almost be called endless. Maintaining one Wood Human Technique was nothing to him.
The Wood Human swung its fists again and again, hammering down without pause. The ground beneath Obito had already collapsed into a deep pit, its bottom covered in massive fist marks.
Nagato watched the scene with his remaining Rinnegan and swallowed.
Good thing he was not the one being targeted.
With Almighty Push's five-second cooldown, he doubted he would even survive until the second punch.
Down in the pit, Obito was filled with frustration. The Wood Human's fists could not hurt him while he was intangible, but watching those massive blows fall one after another still made his body tense.
He had tried to move more than once, but in front of Jie, his speed was painfully slow. Even if he shifted only one step away, the Wood Human's fist would follow and smash down on his new position the next second.
Fighting back was useless too. Ordinary ninjutsu could not affect the Wood Human at all. Even Fire Release only left a few black marks on its body, while his own Wood Release was crushed the moment it appeared, leaving behind nothing but broken debris.
He could not win, and he could not escape. Worse, Jie had even started speeding up the punches. The gaps between each blow were too short for Obito to use Kamui and transfer himself into the Kamui dimension. Without Kamui, he had no way to keep up with Jie's speed.
For nearly five minutes, Obito could only remain where he was and watch the area around him get hammered into a crater.
His five-minute limit for intangibility was almost up.
Obito knew that the moment he became solid, the Wood Human's next punch would crush him.
Death was part of his plan, but not like this. Not crushed into the ground before he could do anything.
A cold light flashed in his eye. Since he could not escape normally, he could only take a gamble.
He was betting that Jie's Wood Release had not reached Hashirama's level. If it had, even Kamui might not be able to hold back that fist.
Taking advantage of the brief gap between two punches, Obito's Mangekyō Sharingan flashed, and a line of blood flowed from the corner of his eye.
Under his desperate push, a huge spatial vortex quickly formed in front of him. It was more than ten times larger than usual, barely large enough to swallow one of the Wood Human's fists.
Forcing out such a large Kamui vortex made Obito's vision blur, but even then, he did not dare blink.
Kamui's intangibility and spatial vortex could not be used at the same time. In other words, Obito was solid right now. If this failed, the Wood Human's fist would crush him.
The next punch came down. The massive fist slammed into the spatial vortex and was swallowed inside.
Obito finally let out a breath. Kamui had worked.
Without wasting the chance, he immediately leapt out of the crater. The next second, the spatial vortex could no longer withstand the pressure and collapsed.
The Wood Human's damaged fist slammed back into the pit, still powerful enough to shake the ground.
Obito finally relaxed a little. That was close. At least he had escaped.
But before he could even catch his breath, a voice he absolutely did not want to hear sounded behind him.
"Is dodging one jutsu really worth being that happy about?"
"There really aren't many idiots like you."
Obito's expression changed, and he quickly tried to turn around. But before he could move, a sharp pain pierced through his chest.
His eye widened as he looked down and saw a black rod protruding from his chest, its tip stained red.
Obito coughed blood, disbelief filling his eye.
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